Penza, 17 September 2013. PenzaNews. Commissioning of the first stage of the road over the river Sura and the railroad dedicated to the celebration of the 350th anniversary of Penza would be impossible without the work of the governor of the Penza region Vasily Bochkarev and his team. This opinion was expressed by the representative of the Russian president in the Volga Federal District Mikhail Babich during the briefing on Tuesday, September 17.

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“The construction work began in 2006, and even a half year ago we could not believe that we would put it in operation today. This became possible due to the supervision of the top officials, including President Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and the department of transportation. But even so it would be impossible if it were not for the work of the governor and his team, in particular, in the question of resettlement of people living on the territory of construction. And this is not an easy task both technologically and financially. The city and the region managed to allocate the money,” Mikhail Babich noted.

According to him, many similar facilities are being put in operation across the country, but Penza bridge is the “pearl of construction.”

“The construction work and resettlement will continue and will be completed in 2014, the money have been allocated, and we have no doubt that this facility will operate,” the representative of the Russian president stated.

Speaking about the importance of development of transport infrastructure in Russia, Mikhail Babich pointed to a significant increase in passenger traffic over the last 10 years.

“The infrastructure which existed previously cannot meet the needs of population and economic development of the region. If there are no roads, there are no transportation links, no investment,” Mikhail Babich concluded.

According to the governor of the Penza region Vasily Bochkarev, the second part to be commissioned includes one in and one out road — in Zlobina and Serdobskaya streets.

“We have already found a solution to the problem of housing demolition and completion of the construction work in the next year. However, this does not prevent us from running the overpass almost fully,” Vasily Bochkarev said.

The head of the region explained that during the day the required signs will be installed, and at 6.00 on Wednesday, September 18, both sides of the bridge connecting Kirova and Izmaylova streets will start operating.

“In the next few days in and out roads in Zlobina and Uritskogo streets will be open. On the coming weekend the overpass will run at 99 % capacity,” the governor pointed out.

Commenting on the question about the possible name for the new bridge, Vasily Bochkarev suggested that the facility could be named in honor of the Federal department for safe storage and destruction of chemical weapons, whose members made a significant contribution to the construction.